After a 4.30am start, I finally got off the train in Paris at 10.30am. I was dressed in my travelling best - a nice dress with a belt, and had jammed my few overnight essentials (including pyjama pants) into my handbag so I would just have one bag. The aim of all this was to be as free as possible, but also to look as much like a local as possible (it was Paris after all, my well-worn practical comfortable grey travelling pants just weren't appropriate!). I immediately bought a small booklet of Parisian streets (Plan du Paris) which I had read the locals use (instead of a massive fold-up paper map). I then took off on my waka waiwai (feet!) and headed towards the inner city. I am not sure why, but I was so happy walking that I walked the entire day and did not take one bus, metro or taxi. I walked for about 10 hours straight. Boy did my feet hurt the next day!!!
I had read of a nice walking route that goes through quite a large part of the inner city, so I began my day by doing that. I walked through St Louis, past Notre Dame, into the buzzy area of St Germain and the Latin quarter. There I stopped for a Nutella and banana crepe, and some Parisian macaroons! Very nice!
Me looking very French!
Notre Dame
Ahhhh cobbled pathways!
Mounds of macaroons!
The oldest cafe in Paris, first open in 1694!
Paris is built around the river Seine so there are many bridges around to cross from side to side. The bridges were so beautiful, each one was like beholding a little piece of sculptural art. Underneath the bridges it was dirty with broken bottles and urine, but hey, nothing's perfect right?!
I then walked over to the Louvre, walked through the courtyard of the incredible buildings and then walked through the gardens, I would have loved to go into the Louvre but the lines were too long and I simply did not have the time. Another trip :)
Outside the Louvre, man what a long line to get in!
The gardens
After strolling through the gardens I went to musee l'Orangerie, a museum designed by Monet himself, housing some of his massive Water lilies paintings. It was incredible, and, being a less famous museum, there were no lines!
Monet's classics on show at the musee l'Orangerie
From there I walked to the Arc de Triomphe. On the way I walked alongside the river and caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel tower!
Champs-Elysees was a neat street to walk down after the Arc de Triomphe. It was absolutely full of people, and I saw some of the most strange sights, like massive queues of people lining up just to get into the Louis Vuitton shop, even the Abercrombie & Fitch shop had a massive line outside of it! I simply could not understand why people would come all the way to Paris simply to line up at an expensive clothing shop!! In my disgust (haha) I walked onwards towards the magnificent Eiffel tower. I got to the base of it and decided to do a Seine river cruise. It was fantastic! And the first chance I had had all day to sit down! It was nice to see the city from the water, and the boatload of tourists proved a great opportunity to people watch!
When I got off the cruise I spent some time walking around the base of the Eiffel tower, taking in the sights, the sounds, the size of it all. I laughed at the length of the line to go up the tower - not for me!! I kept walking on and went and saw the Hotel des Invalides - the tomb of Napoleon. I didn't go right up to the building though because I had to keep pressing on - I had scheduled to meet my couchsurfing host at 7pm! (You didn't think I would come all the way to Paris and not couchsurf did you?!).
My couchsurfing host lived just 5 minutes from the Louvre, so it was a fantastically central location. He was very friendly and we waked to the suburb of Montmarte (made famous in the movie Amelie) on our way to Sacre Coeur - a beautiful white basilica on top of Montmarte hill. As we walked we spoke of travelling and the places we had been, when all of a sudden we turned a corner and there was a group of men in the street having an argument and one pulled out a gun and began waving it around in a frenzied manner. People were running for cover and hiding in nearby stores. I subtly told my couchsurfing host that he had a gun and we just steered off in a different direction. Funnily enough, the gun-toting man walked right passed us shortly after, on the phone calling for mates to back him up. We got to the basilica and it was truly something special to see. It was shining white and people were crowded sitting on the steps ready to watch the sunset. It was so neat.
View of Montmarte
Sacre Coeur basilica
Walking down from Montmarte, my couchsurfer got a invite from some friends to listen to some live music. I was invited too! We had to pick up our pace a little so we rented bikes and glided through the ancient streets, stopping at various landmarks along the way including the Moulin rouge and the opera house!
We went to an area called Saint Michel for a fondue dinner (where my host almost set the restaurant on fire by tipping the fondue pot onto the floor!) before meeting up with the friends at a rustic underground bar. It was all made of stone beneath the ground, it was like listening to music in a castle! The band played jazz music all evening, we left at 1am and walked back to the apartment.
Moulin Rouge
Bicycling through the Parisian streets!
Louvre pyramid at sunset
My couchsurfing host (on the right) and his friends at the venue
Looking back, it is incredible to think that I did all that in just one day! It was an incredible time for me, I loved every minute :)
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